Wednesday, November 3, 2010

As per coach Babcock's words, the battle of the 3rd lines tonight will be crucial in tonight's match which sees the Red Wings battle the struggling Calgary Flames.

Jiri Hudler will sit out another game tonight, and Jimmy Howard will return to the crease for Detroit. Justin Abdelkader will get another shot on the 3rd line to replace the slacking Hudler and try to generate some more energy in the bottom half of the lineup.

The Wings currently sit in the 6th seed while Calgary is ranked 11th in the West. Detroit, however, has a handful of games in hand on most teams in the league, only having played 9 games so far.

Let's look at The Geek's Winning Formula for tonight's game:

1.) Get Jimmy Comfortable - Howard would do well to get a few early shots on him and make some quick saves to get back into focus, then let his teammates slow down the opposition's offense.

2.) Third Line Rolling - At least the 3rd line wasn't in the negatives last game. That itself is an improvement, but there is still work to be done, and goals to be scored. Something's gotta give eventually, and I'm hoping it's tonight that it happens.

3.) Capitalize on Flames' Frustrations - Calgary is not so hot right now, and the harder we pressure them early, the better the game will go for the Wings overall. Come out of the gate screaming and we could be in good shape.

Thankfully I don't work today and the game is late so I'm not missing this game for the world.